Is Amazon’s New ‘Prime Wardrobe’ The Beginning Of The End For Brick And Mortar Stores?

Do you hate to shop for clothes and prefer the on-line experience? Amazon sure hopes so and they are now making it even easier for people! They just announced this week that they are offering to Amazon Prime members, a cost-free service called Prime Wardrobe. This service allows you to pick out whatever clothing, shoes or accessories you wish to try out before purchasing. You need to order between 3 and 8 items at a time and then you have seven days to decide which ones you'd like to buy (if any). Whatever you don't want, you send back to Amazon in a re-sealable box with a pre-paid label that they provide.

There's no doubt that this is a convenient way to shop for clothes, especially for those whose time is at a premium, however, I fear there's a price to pay for convenience: the decline, if not extinction of brick and mortar clothing stores. Do we really want that to happen? Just imagine Oneonta, NY without any clothing stores! Do you like that picture or does it scare you? To me, the image I conjure up is that of a creepy ghost town and so I'll keep shopping in our local clothing stores! Thanks, but no thanks Amazon.